Awkward
by FLUFF-N-UTTER-1
Summary: First dates are almost always awkward. Post season 5. One shot.


Disclaimer: Primeval does not belong to me. This is fan fiction, not for profit.

Any references to people, places, businesses, etc. are entirely fictitious.

Awkward

-x-x-x-x-x-x

Jess and Abby sat at the little corner table in the break room. The brunette wore a short red dress with a flared skirt that swirled over the edge of her chair. Her right leg was straight in front of her, the foot clad in a flirty red heeled shoe sedately planted on the floor. Jess's other bare leg was twisted around. The spiky heel on her shoe inadvertently poked dangerously out towards the open room.

"Tell me," demanded the herpetologist.

The blonde sat across from her. Even on a hot summer day, Abby was dressed in dark brown cargo pants and multiple layered tops. Her sparkling blue eyes regarded her friend with curiosity. Abby leaned forward. Her cream colored blouse bunched up as it met the edge of the table showing more of the orange tank top she wore beneath.

"How did it go last night?" asked Abby.

The dark haired field coordinator added some more milk to her tea. Jess gave a little sigh and stirred before answering.

"It wasn't the most awkward first date I've ever had," confided Jess.

The younger woman was staring at the contents of her cup as if hoping to read a message in the tea. Jess didn't see Abby's eyes roll at her words.

"When Connor and I left last night you two were going to get take-away," replied Abby. "What happened?"

Jess looked up at her friend and shrugged her shoulders. Behind her, the break room door swung open and Lester entered. The administrator headed straight for the tea counter without even a sideways glance at the two women.

"It's not so much what happened," answered Jess, "as what didn't happen."

Jess flashed a brief smile and set the spoon down on her saucer. Abby reached across the table and patted her friend's hand sympathetically. At the side of the break room, the fastidious bureaucrat fussed with the tea things. Finally finished, Lester picked up his cup, closed his eyes briefly, and sipped.

"First dates are always hard," said Abby, "and always awkward."

The blonde's voice may have been a little louder than she thought, or maybe their boss was just exceptionally attentive now that he had his tea in hand. Lester's sharp nosed head turned in their direction.

"Awkward first dates are a good thing," Lester declared.

The two women were startled. Eyes opened wide as Jess and Abby both looked at the ARC's director. Lester walked over to the refrigerator and pulled open the door. He reached in and grabbed the brown paper sack containing his lunch before turning back to face the women.

"With awkward," sniffed Lester as he strode back to the doorway, "there is room for improvement. Motivation to try again."

The middle aged bureaucrat juggled his lunch and his tea and tried to open the door. The break room door swung open before him. Connor's voice could be heard from the corridor.

"Lester!" exclaimed the ARC's technical wizard, "I almost ran into you."

"Don't," ordered Lester, "or you'll be paying the cleaner's bill for my suit."

Lester disappeared through the doorway and the dark haired scientist entered the break room. The slender man was dressed in a red shirt and tight black denims. Connor flashed a smile at the two women and approached the table. His eyes were focused on Abby.

"Connor!" hissed Abby.

Her fiancé froze. Connor looked down. The spiky heel of Jess's shoe jutted out from beneath her chair and might have tripped him if Abby hadn't warned him. The scientist stepped sideways and around Jess's foot.

"That's a dangerous weapon you've got there," teased Connor.

"It's a shoe," protested Jess. But she straightened out her leg and put her foot beneath the table as Connor sat down in the straight back chair beside Abby.

"You haven't seen what Jenny can do with a high heel," replied Connor with a grin.

Abby smiled in remembrance. Connor leaned sideways, lips puckered to give her a kiss, but she placed a hand on the red shirt covering his chest, stopping his movement.

"Wait," admonished Abby. "You've got to leave."

"What?" asked Connor in surprise. "Why? I thought we were having lunch together."

"We were," agreed Abby with a nod of her head, "but Jess and I are having some girl talk now."

"But," protested Connor, "it's lunch time…"

"We were talking about awkward first dates," interrupted Jess, "you could give us a man's point of view."

Connor's brown eyes opened wide. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed hard. The scientist quickly moved to get up from the table. Jess placed a hand over her mouth as she tried to hold back her chuckles at Connor's uncomfortable expression.

"First dates are awful," said Connor as he stood up, "it's best just to not have them."

Blue eyes narrowed at his comment. Abby watched as her fiancé hurriedly moved to the refrigerator.

"What do you mean Connor?" asked Abby.

"First dates… everyone is trying so hard to impress," answered Connor "you don't actually get to meet the real person until it's too late."

Abby and Jess exchanged a confused glance. There was a sort of awkward logic to Connor's words. The scientist opened the refrigerator door and began rummaging through the contents. His muffled voice continued talking.

"Abby and I never really had a first date," said Connor. "We got to know each other first, we were friends, and then…"

Connor withdrew from the refrigerator. The genius triumphantly held up a pale blue plastic container filled with leftovers from last night's dinner.

"Well you know," smiled Connor.

The two women smiled also. Abby had proposed to Connor after convergence and the couple was engaged to be married next month. Abby and Connor were still roomies at Jess's spacious flat, but they had recently found a fixer upper of a home and were hoping to move into it soon. Connor looked from Abby to Jess and back to Abby again.

"Abby, I'll just take this to the lab and microwave it," suggested Connor. "Maybe when you two are done talking you can join me."

"Don't eat all the pad thai," warned Abby.

-x-x-x-x-x-x

The break room remained quiet after Connor departed. Becker, Matt and Emily had left that morning for a week's assignment at the new facility construction at the Forest of Dean. When the two women were alone again Abby looked at her friend.

"Jess, if you and Becker didn't go out for take-away after we left last night," asked Abby, "what did you do?"

"I didn't say we didn't get dinner together," replied the brunette. Jess shook her head. "We went to Wu Chen's. But… it's just… that's all we did. We talked about work stuff… the new EMDs and the new comm units we've ordered…"

This time it was Abby that shook her head.

"Sometimes men can be really thick," Abby said. "You don't want to wait for the man to make the first move… you could be waiting a very long time."

-x-x-x-x-x-x

A short while later Abby opened the door to Connor's lab. The scientist was standing in front of his work station. Slender fingers were poised over the keyboard, typing rapidly. He held a pen clenched between his teeth. The blue container sat untouched on the counter next to the microwave.

"I thought you were going to heat up the leftovers," teased Abby.

Connor looked up from the monitor. He stopped typing and took the pen from his mouth. The scientist flashed a sheepish grin.

"Sorry," replied Connor, "got an idea, and started…"

Abby smiled at her fiancée.

"Lunch can wait," said Abby as she approached Connor.

Stepping closer to the man she loved, Abby tilted her face up and smiled at him. Connor brought his arms around her and smiled back at her. He softly traced his finger down the side of her face. When Connor reached her chin, he cupped the side of her face and brought his lips down to meet hers.

"Shame there are security cameras everywhere," murmured Abby breathlessly when their lips finally parted.

Connor made a sound that was halfway between a growl and a groan.

"We should leave early," suggested Connor. "Tell Lester…"

"No, lunch first, then finish work," objected Abby. "Remember we're trying to save all our vacation time for the honeymoon."

"Yeah," said Connor. He nodded in agreement. "Right. Only four more weeks."

Abby moved towards the microwave. Opening first the container of leftovers and then the microwave she quickly set their lunch to reheating. She turned back to face her fiancée. Connor was leaning back against the workstation with his arms crossed over his midsection. To anyone else, the scientist probably looked relaxed.

"What's on your mind?" asked Abby.

"I didn't know Jess was dating anyone," said Connor in a casual tone. "Is it anyone we know? Should we invite him to the wedding?"

Blue eyes blinked in surprise.

"Connor," said Abby, "Jess and Becker went out to dinner last night."

Brown eyes blinked. Abby looked at the confused expression on Connor's face and shook her head fondly.

"Together," added Abby, "alone… just the two of them."

"Did anybody tell Becker that it was a date?" asked Connor.

"What are you talking about Connor?" asked Abby.

"Well it's not a real date," answered Connor, "unless they both think it's a date. Now is it?"

Abby paused a moment before answering. What was a date, really? She and Connor were engaged to be married and they hadn't yet gone on a "real date." The year in the cretaceous didn't count. Or did it?

"When we first started planning dinner, we were all going to go," replied Abby slowly. "Matt and Emily changed their plans first, then you and I cancelled because we had to go work on the house."

"Exactly! Jess and Becker went to dinner together alone by default," replied Connor. "And I think Becker would have liked to have known if he had a date with Jess."

The microwave dinged, and Abby turned back to the machine to retrieve their food. She turned back to Connor and set the dish down on the counter between him. Her fiancé held up two small white plastic forks.

"No plates?" asked Abby.

"Just forks," replied Connor shaking his head.

They began to eat their leftover noodle dish out of the shared container in a companionable silence. A few bites later, Abby stopped. She looked across the dish at her fiancé.

"Connor," said Abby, "before we get married, I would like you to take me out on a real date."

-x-x-x-x-x-x

Jess entered Lester's office later that afternoon carrying the usual amount of requisition forms that needed his signature. A ceremonial sword was displayed prominently on a stand across the front of the bureaucrat's glossy mahogany desk. Lester had received the pseudo-weapon as a gift on the occasion of his knighthood. The ARC's director looked up at her approach.

"Ah yes," said Lester. He smiled sardonically. "The Wednesday writing exercise."

Jess laid the forms down in front of him and Lester reached for his favorite pen. The field coordinator watched as the older man started signing approvals for new satnavs, replacement EMDs, feed for the creatures contained in the menagerie. He paused a moment and looked up at Jess. The form Lester held had a long list of incomprehensible items only identified by alpha-numeric characters.

"For Connor's lab," Jess explained.

Lester nodded and resumed signing forms. Jess shifted her weight from one foot to another and clasped her hands together in front of herself. She had been thinking about this since tea break. It was now or never.

"What was your most awkward first date?" asked Jess.

The fancy gold pen stopped moving. Lester's green eyes looked up from the forms to gaze at Jess. A small smile started across the director's lips.

"A double date in uni," answered Lester. "My dorm mate fancied a woman, but she wouldn't go out with him alone. We were to go out as a foursome, she and my dorm mate, a blind date for me and her roomie."

Lester bent his head down and began going through the last of the papers. Jess sucked in a deep breath. Her slender fingers twisted together. The last of the forms signed, Lester picked up the papers and shuffled them together in a neat pile. The bureaucrat looked up at Jess as he held the papers towards her.

"What made the date awkward?" blurted out Jess.

The green eyes blinked. For a moment, the proper administrative professional expression wavered.

"I had to find a new dorm mate afterwards," replied Lester.

"What?" asked Jess. "Why?"

"The date didn't go as he had hoped. Her roomie didn't show, and if that wasn't awkward enough, the woman and I hit it off," explained Lester. "But on the plus side, I did thank him for introducing me to my future wife."

-x-x-x-x-x-x

It wasn't until the end of the day that Abby got a chance to talk to Jess again. The senior field coordinator handed off final instructions to the night coordinator. Red high heels tapped across the floor as Jess headed to the locker room to get her bag. Abby was sitting on the narrow bench in front of the ladies lockers, waiting for her. Abby took a deep breath and decided to just say what was on her mind.

"Jess," asked Abby, "what if Becker didn't know you thought it was a date?"

The brunette closed her eyes. Her face reddened in embarrassment.

"I thought we weren't going to talk about this anymore," responded Jess.

The field coordinator walked past Abby and opened her locker. Reaching inside Jess grabbed her tote.

"But Jess it's important," replied Abby. "What if Becker was thinking take-away last night was just dinner with work mates?"

Jess frowned a little. Her bottom lip poked out and her brow creased.

"It would explain why all he did was talk about work," said Jess slowly as she turned back to face Abby.

"People don't always think the same way," said Abby, "especially about what is or is not a date."

Jess looked up at her friend. The brunette smiled.

"I'll have to ask him when he gets back," said Jess. "Of course that will be a whole new type of awkward."

-x-x-x-x-x-x


End file.
